The whole War on Bikies thing is starting to shit me. I suspect there's a lot of theatre of the absurd going on here. Especially when considered in the context of what the Qld government is doing with casino licenses.

44 Responses to ‘Newman's punt’

Squig Jones puts forth...

Posted October 15, 2013

Dear “Baby Joh”

Yes you can drag us, all of us in QLD back in time to the eighties but eventually the 21st century will come knocking on your door. Please by all means follow the instructions of your dark lord and master and destroy the social fabric in another three communities. I have worked in a casino as an electrician and I have watched the destruction occur. Every two weeks the old age pensioners would flood in and “hit the pokies”. That *cough BULLSHIT! Entertainment precinct or whatever weasel word name you want to use was finally making enough money to pay my wages. Through the transparent ceiling of the gaming floor I watched the wait staff walking around with trays of free nibblies and big jugs of free iced cordial. The staff behind the food counter were secretly instructed to not charge anything for the cheapest items available. Everything possible was done to keep them at the machines. OK fair enough that's just business, But then while watching from above feeling exactly like a vulture I saw a pattern. Every so often the machine attendants would have difficulty removing someone from in front of a machine and they would call security and a completely broken person, head down, shoulders slumped, probably crying would be helped out of the gaming floor through a side door so that they never went passed the front desk. Security would put them in a completely free taxi and send them home. It was the only job in the whole hotel that every single security guard hated doing. Once I realised that the wages that I was having a lot of fun spending on anything else except gambling was almost 100 percent gained by being a parasite on society I had to leave that evil place. I wasn't a machine attendant or a manager I didnt even work on the gaming floor. All I did was keep the lights on and the air condition on. I made a contribution though and once I realised that 99 percent of my wages was misery money I had to leave. No choice.

John Birmingham has opinions thus...

Squig Jones puts forth...

Posted October 15, 2013

The funniest part of all is that OMCG's would have been a total wet dream for security because most were exmilitary and when it is a case of honest clean battle where the enemy identifies himself by wearing a uniform weeeelllllll who knows what might happen. Jeeeeeezzzzzzz the poor buggers in Afghanistan don't get that privilage. I tell ya John its a sad state of affairs when fighting guys on bikes at home is a cleaner fight than going to war for freedom is. No fucking fun in the army anymore.

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Posted October 15, 2013

Gees John Can you please ensure your home security and life insurance are paid up.? I'd rather shit the bikies off than go up against the nasty, organised criminals in the casino industry and the guvmint. The WOB is another example of the police state that Australia is rapidly becoming. Try living in a remote community in the NT and tell me I'm wrong although, bless their substance abusing little hearts, the blackfellas have figured out how to circumvent the system admirably and it's only stupid whitefellas that ever get busted for anything. We've got cops at airports, roadblocks, laws that allow them to smash your door down if they smell a scoob or even imagine that they do. This is all in response to some rabid murdoch press that the great unwashed devour as truth.

The problem with poker machines is that they are a tax on dumb people that don't understand the odds. These are the people that can least afford to lose. A poker machine will take 12 cents in the dollar off you no matter what. It is a mathematical impossibility that you can play poker machines long term and win. It is a computer designed to take your money off you and the govmint runs on the revenue. Why support a manufacturing industry when you can pay for your pollie perks much more easily by ripping off poor people. What's the bet Clive gets a casino licence?

John Birmingham mumbles...

The thing I've never understood about the appeal of casino gambling, or any gambling, is that the odds have tobe stacked in favor of the house. Otherwise there would be no gambling. Why would you play a game when the odds are rigged to ensure you always, eventually, lose.

Lulu reckons...

Posted October 15, 2013

"when the odds are rigged to ensure you always, eventually, lose."

When I was doing statistics in first year, roulette was used an example and it was shown how/why in the long run, the house will always win. I think everyone believes they're the special little snowflake which will win.

Darth Greybeard asserts...

Posted October 15, 2013

I used to teach that very thing and you're right. They can do the maths and get the right answer but the brain shuts down when the big win calls. I showed my son the only legal way to guarantee winning at roulette. He doesn't gamble but he tried it twice at a casino with friends. Both times they quietly 'suggested' he leave the table. Only losers are welcome.

I figured I would show the Lady a good time and blow 50, no I'm gonna blow a whole 100 dollars and live the high life. Bond, James Bond.

We entered the Casino and my world quantum shifted.

What a Fucking Dive!

We looked at each other and gave my 'tonne' away to the sorry fucks who worked there.

I cleaned the soles of my shoes after leaving.

w from brisbane puts forth...

Posted October 15, 2013

To the question, Why would you do it?Why would you overeat?Why would you ever have more than 2 or 3 standard measures of alcohol in a day?The pokies I know a fair bit about due to having friends you have a problem. But to see them sit in front and put the first 20 bucks in. The physical relaxation that immediately occurs. The "Ahhhh' moment of peace and the world slipping away. You can see why they like it. The visual display, the interaction, the pleasurable pattern recognition even if it is not a winner: it is immersive, encouraging, collaborative.All that psychologist designed computer voodoo.

And you do win, How many times have I heard. "I won $750 on Tuesday. I couldn't lose." "I took $600 out of that machine last night".Of course, it only indicates the scale of their losses in a rigged bet. But they forget the losses. 'Could I borrow 50 bucks until next payday?"

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Posted October 15, 2013

I think mine was canned by the lawyers. And I tried to be so careful. Basically though, who owns the Casinos? Where is all this cash going? Locally or OS? And do the companies who run the casinos provide perfectly legal donations to the LNP?

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GB - think Packer winning the licence for the second casino at Darling Harbour. Now he's gonna be consulted by Newman. Nothing wrong with that if you're the 'Son Of Goanna'. Not only do you get a licence to print money but you get asked by a cletus Premier how it should be done and most likely cop some consultancy fees on top of another licence or two. Corruption on a grand scale?

Posted October 15, 2013

Posted October 16, 2013

They did in Tassie. they were funding major infrastructure projects with the profits, the councils were doing a similar thing. Then the GFC (get fucked capitalism) hit and suddenly they couldn't build the new Hobart hospital. Then the Councils sued the advisors who helped them lose ratepayers money.

John Birmingham puts forth...

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OutOfCheese mumbles...

Posted October 15, 2013

VLAD. The legislation spells VLAD. VLAD. For f-ks sake. Can someone let these infantile muppets know that they are supposed to at least act like they're pretending to be adults while governing, rather that playing idiotic acronym games?

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Posted October 15, 2013

To sell anything one convince the buyer of a value proposition. "This X will do Y for you, which is totes worth the low low price." So as a salesman one frames the sell in the most favourable light.

The LNP couldn't reasonably make an argument that they'd provide more schools or services, so they pitched their sale mostly around intangibles, immeasurables & externalities.

In time for the coming elections the ALP will have to put a value proposition that will convince Joe Sixpack & Wendy Home-Maker to shift their votes back.

I'm not hopefull. I believe that under every coalition government the % of employees who are shifted across to contractor status, part time or casual basis increases. When people live without security, they tend to vote for less generous conditions for those who most need the support.

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Legless is gonna tell you...

Posted October 15, 2013

Everyone's talking about the casinos and gambling but is anyone giving a thought for the bikies? More specifically, the new laws that allow them to "get tough" on bikies?

No bail. For any offence. Drop a piece of litter in the street and you're banged up, without bail until court. Contest the charge? Then it's back to nick with you until the case is heard.

Police have extra power to stop any group of bikers (including law-abiding recreational riders) at any time, for no reason.

Star-chambers for bikies. Don't answer a question then it's off to the nick with you. And no. You can't have bail.

A special prison just for bikies. Confined to your cell, 23 hours a day. No gym. No TV. No privileges.

I can see that the prison is an excellent idea. Lets put all the bikies from all the different gangs - most of who hate - each other in the same prison, at the same time. I mean - what could *possibly* go wrong.

I'm no defender of criminal bikies - you catch them doing something wrong - haul them before the courts, convict them and send them to prison. It's called the law. But this bunch of new and shiny laws that specifically target bikies makes me want to vomit.

Once the police have these powers they'll never give them up. And once they have these powers they'll be extended to other groups that prove to be a nuisance. It might be G8 protestors, it might be farmers protesting about fracking, it might be the homeless and eventually, it might be you.

John Birmingham is gonna tell you...

I got ten bucks of Abe's says the law gets struck down at the first constitutional challenge.

SZF ducks in to say...

Posted October 16, 2013

Exactly JB - the anti-bikie non-association laws are simply to show us what big swinging dicks our politicians have re: crime.

As one copper mate said to me recently, "Talk about bullshit. It's MUCH easier to get them for real stuff, like manslaughter, assault or possession with intent".

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Nine Fingered Freak puts forth...

Posted October 15, 2013

I read the “intent” of the laws in Bunties hosting paper and what made me pause is, if its good for the bikies, why not everyone else? You know, I have no sympathy for bikies now that the authorities are coming down hard for breaches in the current weapons (particularly in connection to the recent shootings) and drug laws (and anything else they can drag up). But the suite of laws they have cooked up leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Shall we extend and apply these laws to Unions because someone got roughed up at a building site? What about to a right wing party because a few ministers got busted attending a wedding on the public purse?

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Posted October 16, 2013

A while ago I saw a study that showed that in homes where gambling is a problem, there's also likely to be a problem with domestic violence. The people running the study didn't expect this and they wanted DV support adds to be featured alongside the support services for problematic gambling.

I think the thing that pisses me off about the LNP gubbermint the most is the utter disregard that they have for research. They will implement draconian measures that are known to be expensive and useless and they'll cast out any constructive steps that research has indicated can improve a problem, just because being punitive and heavy handed feels good and they really don't give a shit if it actually makes matters worse. Scapegoating rather than problem solving is something that makes sense in their mean-spirited little hearts and the obvious aside to that is that when they're scapegoating one group, it takes the attention off all the sneaky shit they're doing out of the spotlight. The media get completely suckered by it, so I was really glad to see your article, JB, while the fools at ABC radio 612 were jibber-jabbering on talk-back radio about Bikies.

As you guys know, my spouse builds hospitals for a living. He said that the figures show we are only on track to supply 1/3 (if that) of the hospital beds that will be required in SEQ by 2020. Never mind the services that are needed to attend that, that's just stacking space.

Why that isn't headline news and a bunch of thugs in leather jackets are, I honestly have No Freaking Idea. The gold coast is already a tricky demographic with the number of people struggling to make ends meet. Add casinos to that, you'll get an increase in domestic violence, and the results of that usually end up with more kids who are considered 'at risk' and who will engage in the kinds of behaviours that results with them landing in jail for drug use/petty crimes. Jails are expensive to run, so unless Candoo is going to fund the jails with money from the casinos...argh. I need to stop there or my head will explode.

See this post is why I want to be able to direct-link to comments here. Nicely said Q, all of it.

The scary thing is I sort of know the answer to the last bit: QLD has had some semi-experimental US-style privatised prisons. Sure it's an accounting fiction that they could make the state money rather than cost it, but you can bet it will be a very popular fiction in coming years. Then we'll get the invetiable nexus of corruption between sentencing judges and prison operators.

Incidentally, I tried to make this comment (the first paragraph anyway) a number of times during the day today, but for whatever reason this site here, burger not blunty, hasn't played nice with Chrome on Android or IOS7, for me at least.

NBlob mutters...

Posted October 17, 2013

+1 Aunty Q.

This is where "Bread & Circuses" & the Theatre of Government gets really nasty.

More black-suited SpecOps Cops less social interventions. More truncheon, less compassion.

Also the gulf in Lived Experience between LNP silver-spooners like Blieje and the Depression Bay or Inala welfare dependants yawns wiedr than the grand canyon. Those born to even modest priveledge can't imagine the grinding horror of entrenched multigenerational poverty.

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Posted October 16, 2013

I think what they (governments) should be targeting is organised crime in general. Governments do this any way. What with proceeds of crimes law, unexplained wealth laws which take into account cash industries like drug dealing, tattoo shops, tax evasion, insider trading. The problem with proposed 'bikie laws' is that they look retrospective and biased ( so its not one law for all) . If the governments were clever and not knee jerk reacting, media whores then we might get some really good laws that allows the majority of people in Australia (both rich and poor) to just get on with their lives without feeling that some people can get away with anything because of their status (criminal or otherwise). However backroom deals with billionaire casino operators to make more shit house casinos doesn't exactly engender confidence that governments can actually pull this off.

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Posted October 17, 2013

So is it tables, pokies or gambling in general that everyone considers destructive for our society? What about wagering on say the nags or the dishlickers, say through a Paddy Power Australian subsidiary. Does anyone consider Lotto or Scratchies gambling?

w from brisbane mutters...

Posted October 17, 2013

Yep, they are all gambling.Pokies are probably the worst because they are engineered so precisely to destroy the vulnerable.

I heard a bloke who had a TAB franchise (off-course betting shop) talking on the radio recently. He had to get out of the business after 18 months. He couldn't morally stand it. Watching people come in and lose their whole pay over a couple of hours. Then watching them walk out ashen-faced. He couldn't imagine what they and their families were going to live on for the next 2 weeks.As the franchisee, he knew he was morally complicit in destroying families. Probably doing more damage to children than child porn.Of course, the government is up to its eyeballs in these rackets, so it is OK.

'

Brother PorkChop asserts...

Posted October 17, 2013

OK, I tend to agree. What is the solution to this and where does taking some responsibility for your own actions come into it? I am not saying that it is solely the individuals responsibilty but surely in this as in just general crime, the individual has to take some responsibilty. Why do the punters not take advantage of the self limit or self exclusion option? Clearly I do not understand this particular addiction, if it is an addiction, say similar to heroin. I gamble occasionally and I have a mildly addictive personality as evidenced by computer gaming and the definite thrill I get sitting at a casino table or trackside betting. BUT I have never handed over more than I can "afford".

It is an interesting topic, especially for me in my line of work.

w from brisbane mutters...

Posted October 17, 2013

I don't mind the occasional bet myself and have had some great days at the races. Happily, the pokies have no allure to me and I find casinos to be sad places.

The whole personal responsibility thing versus regulation is a hard one. A lot of us do have a problem with gambling and the impact is catastrophic. The big destroyers are pokies and off-track betting shops. While people should be able to gamble, we should err on the side of not making it too easy. It wasn't that long ago you had to go to a race track to back a horse. I think pokies are just evil and should be banned. Or in a slightly more realistic option, should be restricted to casinos and not be in everybody's local watering hole.Unfortunately, the government (which is you and me) has been maximising betting turnover by increasing ease of access. Like going to your dieting fat friend's house and sniggering while you leave a big bag of sugar donuts on the table. A friend wouldn't do that and neither should the government (which is us).

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Posted October 18, 2013

Many years ago in his pre political career days a prominent Queenland politician (now deceased) used to run an SP bookmaking bsiness. (This was well before Joh)He'd rotate between a group of mates places so as to have a different phone every week to make him hard to track. He could have paid protection to the Commissioner but resented it.

One of the mates was my uncle and we'd see him quite often there. I remember him pointing out that gambling was a mugs game and that the house always won. I also remember him refusing to take bets from peole who he knew couldn't afford it. I remember him telling someone that "You've lost enough this week, your kids need to eat mate". That's what I would define as resonsible gambling.

On the subject of "bikies" - here's some interesting quotes against the bikie laws...

"The fact that there have been so many arrests indicates that existing laws are sufficient without the need to enact laws aimed directly at bikie gangs. We do not need to enact laws aimed directly at bikie gangs or other groups, but we do need to give more resources, more funding and more support to our police officers." (Page 3621)

"While I agree that people need to be protected from organised crime, there must also be the protection of personal liberties such as the freedom of association. The Premier and the Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services have stated that people who do the right thing have nothing to fear. I will repeat that: people who do the right thing have nothing to fear. I say to the people of Queensland that, with this government, they do have something to fear. This bill encroaches on their personal freedoms and liberties. A government that tries to remove these freedoms and liberties is a government that is to be feared." (Page 3621)

"This bill is an attack on the right of freedom of association. While it is currently intended for motorcycle gangs, once again this bill does not mention the term ‘bikie’ or ‘motorcycle gangs’, and this piece of legislation could be used against any group that may fall into disfavour regardless of the purpose of their gathering." (Page 3621)

<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]-->All spoken by the current Queensland Attorney General 4 years ago when Labor tried to introduce it's own (Much less nasty) laws...

Hypocrisy is rampant.

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Dave the Brave mutters...

Posted October 18, 2013

On a lighter note I'd like to see Hi Vis vests comulsory for all motorcyclists. Can you imagine the impact on the OMG and their colours? Oh how we'd laugh.

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Posted October 18, 2013

I think a detail often missed is:

It's not like Crystal Meth or Pokies just dropped from a tree fully formed. The have been crafted over years of experimentation, by people who most-assuredly know thier sh!t, to be as Addictive as possible.

This is not conspiracy theory, it is economics 101. The Client of the pokie machine manufacturer is is the venue manager whose #1 proirity is revenue, not the punter. The longer the mug punter sits at the machine, mesmerised by flashy flashy lights (and specific frequencies) lulled by jangly jingles (crafted again to be as enticing as possible) fooled by $1 Minimum Bets and tricked by side-boob flashes on the graphix the better.

If they go home to a dark house & hungry family with a maxi-pack of shame, what the hell, at least the money is now in the Venue's metaphorical trouser pocket As Per Plan.

26 Responses to ‘And all shall kneel before the Mighty Volvo’

Posted October 10, 2013

Down in Tasmania.

Where the indolent roam and 50% of the population can't figure out what indolent means, let alone use it in a sentence or for that matter be able to construct a sentence.

The Volvo has been replaced by the Subraru auslander or outback. The WRX is only used by show off boys or people pretending to be rich. The subaru is the new volvo. The new volvo is far too flashy for your Katmandu vest wearing green voter. Instead the denizens of the public service drive something blue and kinda sporty with great utiily.

Posted October 10, 2013

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Bathurst could use some responsibly infuriating Volvo drivers at the moment. Full of wankers thinking they are the incarnation of Brocky and insult the locals with "fuck off you country driver" with a horn blare or two. Although truth be told the way the locals have come out of the wood work to sell anything under the sun to the punters is rather embarrassing. The major inconvenience of the races is that i can't get a park out the front of where i want to go! I may even have to walk one block!

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Posted October 10, 2013

My (ex) BIL lived on acreage in the hills near Mullum and drove 1. a boxy volvo 2. a tractor.

One day he decided to drive the tractor without the benefits of shoes, despite the warning on the dash 'Always wear shoes when operating the tractor.'

He tried to hit the brakes as he was rolling backwards down the hill (towards the volvo) but OW! OW! OW! it turns out those warning signs about the need for footwear in tractors are there for a reason.

The tractor smacked into the volvo and dealt it a blow that would have finished a lesser vehicle, and, my sister not being someone to waste her hard-earned money on panel beaters, refused to get it fixed, so from that point onwards the volvo shuffled through life with a vicious looking tractor bite carved out of it's arse.

Therbs reckons...

Bunyip would have you know...

Posted October 10, 2013

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Gutz swirls their brandy and claims...

Posted October 10, 2013

Ahhh the good ole Swedish Tracktor Ovlov...i cannot talk however, my grand father of Finnish descent thought the Lada was the best thing since rollmops.... But he did suffer a brain injury in WW2, so we did cut him quite a bit of slack.

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The weird thing about the 200 series Volvos was the placement of the coil, a really stupidly long way from the (in those days still mechanical) distributor. In practice this meant that if your 245DL suffered chronic electrical corrosion due to the weird tinkerings* of a mad hungarian previous owner/bequeather/FIL, you could guarantee that the RACQ, RACV and NRMA van would not carry a long enough replacement coil lead.

Oh and 245DLs had tail-gunner seats, usually stowed under the floor in the cargo area. Removing these yielded a brilliant extra compartment, which we used for roof racks and the very large number of tools required to keep the thing running. If I said that you haven't lived till you've changed the water pump on a 70s Volvo, I'd most likely be lying.

Yeah I reckon Toyotas are pretty good for Australian cars. Holden seems to be nothing but lightly modified Opels these days, which I'm sure are fine for Europe; and Ford is... well the less said about Ford the better. Did someone really say Jeep? Sorry, laughing too hard to respond meaningfully.

*He had/has some bizarre theories about advancing the timing, which he has implemented on all his cars that I have been aware of. He insists it boosts performance while improving fuel economy, but what it actually does is make the car stall while idling, even when the idle is set high.

Rob has opinions thus...

Posted October 11, 2013

my jeep is fabulous. what with its v6 mercedes engine and all round blackness.

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Diod I mention I got a call from teh IT help fkn desk today. A job I had logged, waqnting a new e.mail address for Facilities, they wanted to know if I still needed it, the JOB was logged at the beginning of fkn APRIL!..yeah........fk great servioce!...fkn muppets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, next thing they will be telling up we need to gets ready for the Y3K bug!

30 Responses to ‘War planning and climate change’

Posted October 1, 2013

I'll be amazed if you get more than 10 comments on this one.

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Lobes mumbles...

Posted October 1, 2013

Brilliant article and the penultimate sentence touches upon what most of the "save the boats" crowd are missing. If and when climate change causes a mass refugee crisis (think 60 million bangladeshis looking for higher ground) its going to be essential to have a border management policy. I say manage and not control because realistically the Australian coastline is too big too control.

Murphy mutters...

Posted October 1, 2013

Indoctrinate and co-opt the ones you think are potentially reliable into helping you police your coastline.

That said, finding a way to accomodate and adapt to immigrant populations is probably going to be a more successful strategy than simply trying to fence yourselves in.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

Blarkon mutters...

Posted October 1, 2013

Yeah but Australia is going to be even more like Arrakis - so your climate change refugees are probably going to look for somewhere a little more hospitible, like Antarctica.

Murphy swirls their brandy and claims...

Posted October 1, 2013

Desalinization plants.

Of course, you'd have to get past that pesky anti-nuke policy of yours.

Lulu mutters...

Posted October 1, 2013

We have a desal plant here in Victoria. Of course, by the time it was completed, the drought had ended but we're ready for the next one.

Peter Bradley puts forth...

Posted October 1, 2013

We also have a desal plant in Adelaide so now all we need is a carbon neutral way of powering it!

The pipes don't have to be anything fancy, since the heat-absorbing part should be the low-pressure (expansion) side anyway. If they are going to get really hot then something that'll work with that is indicated...otherwise PVC drainpipe is fine. Mind you there are plastics these days that I'm sure could handle the temperatures you'd see under the tarmac.

Point is that there might be some sense in nuclear for some applications, but the ones that really do make sense are vanishingly few. Meantime we are simply astonishingly stupid about heat and the wide range of existing technologies that make good use of it, simply because they don't fit into the right people's business models.

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Posted October 1, 2013

Every other day on various feeds I see report after report of military installations turning to solar and wind power while working on hybrid and electric engine designs for future support and combat vehicles.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

ShaneAlpha puts forth...

Posted October 1, 2013

Don't forget the ones that run on high temperature gas fuel cells.

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Conspiracy Cat would have you know...

Posted October 1, 2013

Wow, JB. You've got yourself one hell of a troll-fest going on over there at Blunty, and it's not even lunch time. (They are trolls, right?) It was tempting to leave a comment about Creationism, and how that is the only model which has yet proved accurate, but all that virtual shouting was giving me a headache. I'm going to google search Nigella Lawson recipes instead.

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Posted October 1, 2013

Speaking of upcoming wars, is it true that TA, in his conversations with President BamBam, said he thought Pebbles had let herself go somewhat, and that he always had a thing for Betty, a girl with real sex appeal?

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Posted October 2, 2013

John Birmingham mumbles...

Me too. My security certificate expired at least a month ago. I still haven't been able to shake free a new access code from IT. And without me tending the comments, they can go for hours without an update.

Posted October 2, 2013

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As I said over there the wars have started it is a question of how hot.

Be looking at Siberia as a possible sight of conflict again between the Chinese and Russians.
Also Antarctica at least parts maybe habitable within 100 years. Are we even thinking that far ahead? The time to think is now so we can preemptively act when it becomes an issue

Posted October 2, 2013

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Posted October 2, 2013

Looks like Greenland may soon live up to it's name again ; for those in the Northern hemisphere.,looking to move! It'll be much smaller ,of course, without the ice sheet!

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DiddyWrote reckons...

Posted October 2, 2013

The US military consumes about 85 million barrels of oil a year making it the biggest single consumer in the world. Even without global warming, peak oil will make the worlds only superpower impotent unless it finds different way to fuel it's war machine.

According to the US Army Materiel Command a gallon of fuel delivered to the US military in action can cost up to $400. Think about that when you next fill up the tank (petrol not battle).

Diddy, yep, then think about the types of tanks the US operates, that is, the types of multifuel engines they have in the M1 series....yep. JET FKN TURBINE! and...well dont get me started, but we bought some........ UNFKN FORTUNATELY!

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Posted September 26, 2013

Yeah, but JB, Summer is basically here and going commando is about as "Australian" as you can get.

AY Mate!

How's your eggs?.

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Mayhem's Mum mumbles...

Posted September 26, 2013

I myself would not have noticed a rehearsal of The Full Monty by the local amateuer theatrical society if I had a plate of dukkah dusted eggs before me. Have you become so gastronomically jaded, Mr Birmingham, Sir, that a mere 'A Capella' display can put you off your holiday breakfast? A word to the wise, good Sir. Avert your eyes and clean your plate. Wasting food is inexcusable when there are people out there who cannot afford undergarments let alone dukkah dusted eggs.

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Posted September 27, 2013

?thanks for the links much appreciated. I do wonder if the fairfax overlords realise that I don't read smh rather I read Ross G, Julia B, yourself and others. Now you are all in a pool of commentary perhaps I am supposed to think of you all as fair fax comments. That's no way to treat the talent and can only weaken their shaky business model.

John Birmingham would have you know...

AllyOops is gonna tell you...

Posted September 27, 2013

Done!

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Miss Maudy mutters...

Posted September 27, 2013

FLASHBACKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a child (maybe 11 or 12) at my grandparents place, sleeping on the couch in the lounge room. Grandfather did not see fit to wear undergarments of any description ever. In summer, he wore stubbies. From my supine position on the couch, the view was unforgettable.

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Ol' Jim mutters...

Posted September 27, 2013

My brother has the nasty habit of free-balling in shorts and driving with one leg up on near the gear stick. Manys the time I've had to insist the kiwifruit get put away in the fruit bowl.

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Respond to 'Freebaggers'

I'm trying to avoid writing about politics for a little while, although Clive Palmer is sorely tempting me. Today's Blunty, about discovering an old album which had passed me by, is my attempt to stay away from all too easy to make jokes about Prime Minister Toned Abs.

10 Responses to ‘Of time and music’

Mayhem's Mum swirls their brandy and claims...

Posted September 19, 2013

One is dismayed by the vast number of classic songs that are covered, sampled and outright stolen by the talentless naked whores who pass for musicians these days. One constantly finds oneself muttering 'I used to like that song' before furiously hurling one's crystal set into the corner of the Oubliette. Their insidious behaviour would be less annoying if one could convince the talentless naked whores to get off my lawn.

Correction. My Lord And Master Greybeard's (Keeper of the crystal, bringer of gruel, genetic mutater of rats) lawn. Perhaps one might convince said Lord and Master to transfer his genetic mutation experiments from the Raterati to the talented naked whores. His first experiment could be to train the whores to actually sing. The second, to put some pants on. The third? To get off my (his) lawn. Yes. Yes, this is a good plan. One shall start work on the bribe immediately. A rat skin fedora should do it.

w from brisbane swirls their brandy and claims...

Posted September 19, 2013

Though MM, the good thing about that is, I can say my rock/pop listening consists of 90% new music. Ain't I awesome? Mind you, the fact that my new music mostly sounds like it could have come straight from the seventies, still leaves me an enormous and enjoyable range of new performers and songs.

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Posted September 19, 2013

Musical kinda week.....

I had some amazon preorder shiny discs arrive this week on idie/hipster black vinyl no less. The new Nine Inch Nails album arrived but with a CD included ( i don't own a turntable) so its on my PS3 playing off the hard drive. I bought the vinyl because it was cheap to buy a bundle and reminds of the day I bought their first LP back in 1989 when I didnt have a CD player nor children but I did have black dreadlocks and a $37.50 weekly rental payment to find.

Posted September 19, 2013

John Birmingham puts forth...

Yes. The problem is my security certificate has expired and the process of getting it renewed is Hell. So I can't get in to wrangle comments.

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Conspiracy Cat is gonna tell you...

Posted September 19, 2013

Avast, Cap'n Birmingham! Ye scurvey dog! Here it be 'International Talk Like A Pirate' day, and ye be yammerin' about landlubber stuff. Ye could have at least sung the lads a bawdy sea shanty. Arrgh, I ort tae keelhaul ye!

Lulu has opinions thus...

Posted September 19, 2013

By complete coincidence, this morning I was reading Caitlin Moran's account of interviewing Keith Richards on a previous 'International Talk Like A Pirate' day.

excerpt:

"to be frank, everything Keith Richards says is in the cadence of Pirate. With his black eyes, bandanna and earring, even at 67, he has the air of a rakish gentleman forced to steal a frigate and abscond from polite society - due to some regrettable misunderstanding about a virgin daughter, a treasure map and a now-smouldering Admiralty building. "